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Epic variable star 73 EP

HR 6347

RA 256.6182° · Dec -35.4510° · star

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Score breakdown

· 8 badges
73 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Blazing O-type star +26
  • Supergiant +18
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) +10
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Variable star +5
  • On the zodiac +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) +2
Total score 73

5 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Blazing O-type star · +26
  • Supergiant · +18
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) · +10
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) · +2
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads O9.5Iab — an O-type star — the hottest, rarest main class there is. Fewer than one star in a million is an O, and none of them lasts long.
  • Where it is in life. It is a supergiant. Drop it where the Sun is and its surface would engulf the inner planets.
  • It changes. This star does not hold still: its brightness rises and falls on a rhythm of hours, days or years, either pulsing in size or being eclipsed by a companion.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 6.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Scorpius.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around June — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Properties

absmag
-2.829
bv
0.438
constellation
Sco
dist ly
2038.475
luminosity
1179.234
mag
6.15
name
HR 6347
spect
O9.5Iab
var amplitude
0.05
var designation
V1074
var max
6.126
var min
6.176

About HR 6347

HR 6347 is an epic variable star. It lies about 2,038.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sco, shines at apparent magnitude 6.15 and has spectral type O9.5Iab.

Its spectrum reads O9.5Iab — an O-type star — the hottest, rarest main class there is. Fewer than one star in a million is an O, and none of them lasts long.

How to see it

Look for HR 6347 in the constellation Sco. At apparent magnitude 6.15, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 6347 is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.

Why HR 6347 is an epic variable star

HR 6347 scores 73 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 8 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), On the zodiac, Blazing O-type star, Supergiant, Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2), Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) and A named variable star — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.